In a display cabinet on the elevated floor of the Melbourne Cricket Ground sits a neon pink suit donned by Robbie Williams. The show in front of 100,024 fans was considered a success.
It's possible you like his music. Perhaps you believe he is the finest offering to music the world has ever seen. Or you could adopt a balanced view, acknowledging that some songs are excellent while others are poor.
The central idea is that amusement can manifest in countless ways. Preferences differ. There is no one way to create music or even five-day cricket.
The Incomparable Variety of The Long Game
The five-day game boasts unrivalled depth. It's difficult to think of another sport where the contest is so dictated by the environment.
The elements, the hour of play, the red ball – the list is endless. Most important is the pitch.
If Test cricket is an artistic pursuit, the strip is the canvas on which the cricketers craft their legacy.
A Broken-Down Battle: The Melbourne Spectacle
The recent Melbourne match between Australia and England was an abstract version of cricket, the great game dismantled and reassembled in abstract form.
This is not a endorsement of the pitch which yielded a win and the another short match of the Ashes battle.
Allowing a thick layer on the surface, leading to a cascade of wickets falling in less than two days, is not a balanced duel between batter and bowler.
A Diverse Legacy: The Essence of Test Cricket
But any notion this was a inferior show, one that should be qualified as illegitimate, is mistaken.
Test cricket is a rich tapestry, 2,615 parts and still growing. At times, as seen at the MCG, the ball does all sorts for the fast men. Sometimes, it grips and turns on a dust bowl. At other venues, the pitch is flat as a pancake, other times it spits like a cobra.
The close matches are even more exciting because of the patience committed elsewhere.
Adaptation: The True Test
Specific conditions are tolerated more freely than others.
The argument in Melbourne was that the equilibrium was weighted unfairly towards the fielding side. That the top batters were prevented from showcasing their talents.
The format is about finding solutions – assessing the wicket and responding effectively. The two highest individual scores were made by world-class players. One team committed more errors than the other, and thus lost.
Unbridled Joy: The Supporters' View
Go and inform the supporters who have endured years of defeat that this was not entertaining.
Among the crowd of the stadium, a sea of people made noise and sang their songs, producing a party atmosphere in a bastion of sport.
There was belief as the bowlers dominated, advantage when the top order fought back, and pure joy when the result was secured.
Extreme Ends: The Spectrum of Test Matches
The venue has previous experience with difficult wickets. Previously, a game there featured a wicket with all the life of a a non-event.
That contest was a slog, with few wickets and interminable tedium. The latest encounter and that drawn affair are extreme ends of the scale – one is not more perfect, yet significance can be attached to each.
At this stage into the ongoing battle, it is the two-day matches that will remain iconic in the memory.
"This isn't the demise of the long game at all," observed a past champion. "Fans who have been lucky enough to see these 48 hours have been given some genuine drama. A unique show."
Baby Steps: Building for the Future
In the lead-in to this Test, the leader talked like a man carrying the heavy burden on his shoulders.
The team protected him, reinstating the joy to his countenance.
New faces performed with vital performances. These are small positives, hardly enough to secure long-term futures, but something to develop from.
Ultimately, this Melbourne victory joins other historic performances in dead rubbers.
As the fans slipped away into a glorious Melbourne evening, the players gathered on the turf to commence their own celebrations.
Savour the moment, men. This victory was hard-fought.
